Day 4 — On the Road

one of the things that’s most striking about Iceland is the angle at which the sun hits the earth. photographers live for the “blue” and “golden” hours which surround sunrise and sunset, since this is when the light is the softest and most beautiful. because Iceland is so far north, though, the sun is almost always close to the horizon, producing that beautiful light nearly the entire day.

granted, during most days the skies are full of clouds, putting a damper on this aesthetically pleasing phenomenon. but during day four, we were lucky enough to get nearly a full day of partly cloudy skies. the drive from Selfoss to the Skaftafell region took the full day due to numerous stops and ad hoc adventures down “impassable” roads, but the leisurely pace was welcome. it only takes about 16 hours to drive around the edge of this country, but i feel like this week has been jam-packed and we’ve only scratched the surface of the southern coast…so taking a slow day and stopping in random spots to appreciate the nooks and crannies felt right.

the first batch of shots below are taken from a random waterfall we noticed off the main route. the majority of the middle shots were taking either from the car or from other random stops we made throughout the day, and the shots at the end are from Jökulsárlón, a glacier lagoon in the Skaftafell region that’s very famous among photographers. unfortunately, the sun didn’t last for us to witness a sunset over the lagoon…and the following morning was quite cloudy as well. i could probably spend months at that lagoon taking shots of the various conditions and ice formations on the lake, but time constraints dictated we move on. i’m a little disappointed that i didn’t get to witness any absolutely breathtaking views here, but it’s hard to complain when what we did see was so nice. besides, there’s always next time…